Algorithm for Creating a Safe Environment

To strengthen communities' ability to design and implement various safety programs, IMiP has proposed an algorithm for collaboratively guiding communities through this complex process. The key steps toward creating a safe environment in a community are:

Analysis of security risks and the overall situation in the community

Reviewing and classifying security threats and assessing community residents' needs is a necessary preparatory stage, since any security strategy or program should closely match the community's way of life and the needs of all its stakeholders.

Assessment of the community's potential to create a safe environment

Developing a truly useful and effective security development plan for a specific community requires understanding its strengths and weaknesses. A community's potential includes components such as: (a) the level of competencies of its actors in the field of security; (b) established interaction between local self-government, local state authorities, law enforcement and residents; (c) presence of leaders; (d) comprehensive coverage of security issues in local media; (e) community cohesion and levels of trust; (f) the community's ability to adapt to and counter negative factors, and so on.

Strengthening community security capacity through formation of a leadership team

An important step toward creating a safe environment is training leaders who will take responsibility for designing and implementing the security strategy or program. The leadership team should include representatives of the police, local self-government, civil society and other relevant bodies and services who have the skills to apply new tools and act coherently for the community's safety in a broad sense.

Designing a security strategy or program for a specific community

For developing a conceptual vision, we prefer to use the toolkit of facilitated dialogue — a structured group process led by a facilitator that aims to improve understanding and relations among participants and supports joint decision-making or conflict resolution. This approach can be foundational when creating security programs and initiatives, as dialogue enables the involvement of stakeholders and consideration of the opinions and needs of diverse social groups, which is vital for program integrity and sustainability.

Developing a tailored plan for each community to strengthen its security capacity

Once a community's security priorities are identified, a tailored support plan can be developed for each community, consisting of: (a) training in dialogue practices for decision-making and conflict resolution; (b) change management training for local government representatives and community members; (c) establishing cooperation between the police and other community actors; (d) strategic sessions to develop a security program; and so on.

Engaging key participants

A prerequisite for creating a safe environment is the involvement of diverse actors and a high level of collaboration in implementing security initiatives and programs. To identify gaps in cooperation among key participants and find new opportunities to improve communication, we propose combining the tailored support plan with the development of a stakeholder map — the actors who influence the community's security situation.

Coaching support for the change process on request from the community

Community coaching to strengthen its capacity for creating a safe environment involves accompaniment and mentoring support from IMiP experts. A cycle of work with 11 communities showed that the most common requests are: (a) support in developing a security strategy; (b) expert consultations on communication strategies and information dissemination plans for security initiatives; (c) training on accessing funds from local budgets; and (d) identifying opportunities for international funding to implement security projects.